The culture of hawaii historically and today - revolves around the ocean

The State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) will receive $774,999 under a three-year Project Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 9 Headquarters. The grant funding will support DLNR's efforts to improve biosafety for marine mammal stranding response teams in Hawaii and U.S. Pacific territories through the Zoonotic Disease Initiative federal grant program (CFDA 15.069). DLNR will collaborate with its sub-awardee, the University of Hawaii Health and Stranding Laboratory (UHHSL), to strengthen standard operating procedures and training for responders, enhance communications between UHHSL and health authorities, and expand UHHSL's pathogen screening capabilities. DLNR will also conduct public outreach to raise awareness of the connections between human, marine mammal, and environmental health in coastal communities throughout Hawaii. The goal of this funding is to protect responders, assess disease prevalence in marine mammal populations, and recognize the interdependence of One Health.

People are dependent upon the ocean for food, transportation, jobs, recreation, and renewal. Governor josh green, M.D. Declared january 2023, hawaii one health month to focus attention on the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. Endemic and endangered hawaiian monk seals, plus more than 20 species of dolphins and whales, inhabit hawaiian waters. Marine mammals suffer from viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections that may cause illness in humans. Close interactions between marine mammals and humans provide opportunity for pathogen exposure and spread. To date, zoonotic agents identified in whales, dolphins and monk seals in hawaii include the parasite toxoplasma, the bacteria brucella and staphylococcus, and fungal agents. Additional pathogens found in stranded marine mammals elsewhere, including avian influenza and the bacteria leptospira and mycoplasma, have the potential to endanger human health, therefore this project will also include screening for these important infectious agents in stranded and sick marine mammals in hawaii. The state of hawaiis aquatic resources division in the department of land and natural resources (dlnr-DAR) works closely with the university of hawaiis health and stranding laboratory (uhhsl) and national oceanic and atmospheric administrations national marine fisheries service (NOAA-nmfs) to respond to sick, injured and deceased marine mammals that strand on land and in the nearshore waters. Stranding responders are at risk of exposure to zoonotic diseases and there is currently no ideal system in place to deal with an exposure event. There is also a lack of local and regional laboratory capacity to test for all potential infectious agents, so the prevalence of disease in hawaiis marine mammal populations is currently unknown.dlnr-DAR, together with its sub awardee, uhhsl, proposes to greatly improve the biosafety for the marine mammal stranding response teams in hawaii, as well as in the U.S. Territories in the pacific islands region (guam, saipan, and american samoa) which have similar stranding response programs, through collaboration in areas such as: improving standard operating procedures and training strengthening communications between uhhsl (the regional diagnostic laboratory), the hawaii department of health and the broader stranding response network and improving uhhsls zoonotic pathogen screening capacity. Dlnr-DAR will also conduct public outreach through public and stakeholder meetings, news and social media, and educational materials, particularly in communities where marine mammal stranding events are more likely to occur. The health of humans, marine mammals, and the unique island environment, are all dependent on US recognizing these important connections as hawaii one health.